Having chased down a number of "drummer boys" stories over the years on these message boards, I don't recall one that panned out. For some reason people want to believe that the Confederate military enrolled children and taught them how to use a drum. As far as I can tell, it's all romance and fiction.

Volunteer companies recruited in 1861 often had musicians on roll who could play a fife or a drum. Sometimes these men were transferred to a regimental band. Ages are included on many of the early rolls, and a musician could be any age, but not a little boy. If there ever was one under eighteen, I don't remember it.

In 1862 the Confederate Congress passed a law allowing regiments to hire free men of color as musicians. In any case, musicians seem to have disappeared from the rolls by 1864-65 or even earlier.